Gods Of Egypt
| Budget: $140 million | Financed by: Lionsgate |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $31,153,464 | Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate |
| Overseas Gross: $119,527,400 | Directed by: Alex Proyas |
Starring: Gerard Butler | Produced by: Stephen Jones |
Lionsgate bankrolled Gods Of Egypt for $140 million and mitigated their risk across numerous overseas distributors who snatched up the expensive rights at the American Film Market, where they sold out territories on this and Point Break. After AFM, Lionsgate’s exposure to the huge budget was around $10 million — plus the expense of domestic P&A, which leaves their investment in this critically reviled film between $40 million and $50 million. With their lucrative cash cow The Hunger Games series at an end, Lionsgate’s yearning for a new series led them to try to franchise the hell out of almost every property they released — from the ill fated Johnny Depp vehicle Mortdecai, Child 44, American Ultra, The Last Witch Hunter and even announcing intentions to have a spinoff of Sicario after it opened well in just 6 theaters. Gods Of Egypt joins that growing list of a would-be series.
Lionsgate first announced its release date to be February 12, but then Deadpool and Zoolander 2 were scheduled for the date and it was pushed to April 8. Most IMAX screens on that date were booked for Batman v. Superman and it was moved again to February 26. For a VFX spectacle, the film was off to a poor start, when the first trailer boasted visual effects that would barely pass muster 15 years ago. Follow that with Lionsgate and director Alex Proyas apologizing for casting the film with almost entirely white actors and poor tracking up to its release. Even actor Gerard Butler distanced himself from this disaster, who had the film London Has Fallen open the following weekend and promoted only that sequel through social media. Atrocious reviews certainly didn’t help the bad buzz and predictably Gods Of Egypt flopped with $14,123,903 for its first weekend — placing #2 behind Deadpool in its third frame. Triple 9 and Eddie The Eagle also bowed that weekend. Gods Of Egypt took a 63.2% nosedive in frame two, with a $5,198,091 weekend. It continued to post large weekly declines and closed with $31,153,464. Lionsgate would see back about $17.1 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross.
China based Le Vision acquired rights in November 2015 and saw the best overseas gross at $35.5 million. Gods Of Egypt cumed $11.4 million from Russia and posted mostly soft numbers overseas for a film of this expense. The offshore rollout stalled at $119.5 million, across many distributors.